Trump impeachment news: Witness warns of Russian 'fictional narrative' in damning testimony as Republican conspiracy theories challenged
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Your support makes all the difference.The fifth day of public impeachment hearings has come and gone, with another pair of key witnesses delivering damning evidence against Donald Trump. Meanwhile, the president spent his time lashing out against the proceedings on Twitter, writing: “Never in my wildest dreams thought my name would in any way be associated with the ugly word, Impeachment!”
Mr Trump has had a more controversial week than usual, as his EU ambassador, Gordon Sondland, implicated the president in a quid pro quo with Ukraine during his own impeachment hearings - along with vice president Mike Pence, secretary of state Mike Pompeo and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. “Was there a ‘quid pro quo’?" Mr Sondland said in his opening statement. "As I testified previously, with regard to the requested White House call and White House meeting, the answer is yes."
The president's critics have said the proceedings are exposing impeachable offences, including ex-White House ethics lawyer Richard W Painter, who said it was effectively “game over” for his administration. Mr Trump has attempted to undermine the inquiry, insisting that he barely knew his ambassador and wanted “NOTHING” from Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev. As all that happened, the Democratic 2020 contenders took to the debate stage in Georgia to attack Mr Trump as "one of the most corrupt presidents" in US history.
During the Thursday testimony, Fiona Hill, a former White House adviser on Ukraine, and David Holmes, a top staffer at the US embassy in Ukraine, testified about the irregular channel of communication in which Mr Trump pushed for a domestic-ally oriented political investigation.
Ms Hill told investigators that she believed Republican arguments claiming that it was OK for Mr Trump to ask for an investigation into Ukraine's 2016 role played into Russian talking points, and that furtherance of that played into their hands.
Mr Homes, meanwhile, told investigators that he was on the phone call that allegedly occurred 26 July, just a day after Mr Trump's call with Mr Zelensky. He said that he could hear the president speaking, even though he was not on spearker phone.
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Fiona Hill says she had "a couple of testy encounters" with Gordon Sondland, and at one point she says she told the ambassador: "I think this is all going to blow up. And here we are."
Fiona Hill tells Devin Nunes: "We at the National Security Council were not told...that we were to be focused on these issues as a matter of US foreign policy toward Ukraine.”
She then calls Lt Col Alexander Vindman a "highly distingushed, decorated military officer."
Fiona Hill continues defending Lt Col Alexander Vindman: "I did not relate any concerns in general terms about Col Vindman's judgement, so I was was somewhat surprised when I hard Mr. Morrison make that assertion."
Fiona Hill says immigrants and the fact that America is built by immigrants "is what makes America great", a slight swipe at Donald Trump's 2016 campaign slogan.
Some perspective from The Independent's Andrew Feinberg as he watches the impeachment hearings unfold from within the room:
Stephen "Castor asked Hill about Vindman’s judgment, hoping to elicit an answer that would undermine Vindman. The answer she got was a robust defense of his judgment and ability, combined with yet another reminder that what Trump’s people (Mulvaney, Sondland, Rudy, etc) were getting into had to do with domestic politics, not national security or foreign policy."
A tense exchange as Jim Jordans attacks David Holmes, who then takes down the Republican's line of questioning by revealing that "everyone" knew the president was trying to pressure Ukraine into launching political investigations.
Republican Devin Nunes stormed out of the room following Jim Jordans' intense exchange with David Holmes in which he was repeatedly interrupted by House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff who was forced to remind him to follow House rules.
David Holmes response to Jim Jordans during that tense exchange:
"Everyone is nodding, of course, that's what's going on. Of course the president is pressing for a Biden investigation before he'll do these things the Ukrainians want. there was nodding ... Everyone by that point agreed it was obvious what the president was asking for."
Fiona Hill provides an undiluted version of events surrounding Ukraine:
"It was clear that Burisma was code for the Bidens because Giuliani was laying it out there. I could see why [Lt] Col Vindman was alarmed and he said 'this is inappropriate, we're the National Security Council, we can't be involved in this."
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